Anderson: Closing the write-in loophole is not enough

By R. Bruce Anderson Ledger columnist

Sunday

Mar 10, 2019 at 12:01 AM

Florida has one of the last “closed primary” election systems still hanging around.

A “closed primary” is one in which only those who have registered with a political party may vote in that party’s primary, the election that decides who will represent that party in the general election.

There is an oddity in Florida’s election law, though: if only one party has candidates in the primary, everyone can vote in it. The idea is that people should have a choice of candidate when the primary election is, materially, the general election.

However (and there is always a “however” in election law), Florida also has a “write in” law, which means that a candidate can run in a primary simply by registering their name.

So, as recently happened in Vero Beach, if four Republicans vie for election in the GOP primary, and no one runs on the Democratic side, the law intends that everyone be able to vote in the GOP primary since it determines the general election — the primary winner would be unopposed.

Unless someone voids all that — in this case, a phony candidate named James Bailey — by writing himself into the phony Democratic primary.

The system assumes that there would be a choice between Bailey, the “Democratic candidate” and whomever emerged from the Republican scrap. The problem is that, according to Steve Bousquet and Michael Ausle of the Miami Herald, Bailey was from Clearwater, three hours away.

He posted no posters, raised no money, and did not bother to answer reporters' phone calls or emails. In fact, there was no campaign, and Bailey was a candidate in name only.

He did, however, deprive thousands of their right to vote in the Republican primary, which was the “real” general election.

Why did he run? He was simply a shill for a campaign firm working for one of the Republicans in the election, who, because of their rather extreme right-wing views, wanted to limit voting to Republicans only.

In 2016, 34 write-in losers (and they always lose) effectively deprived 1.6 million voters of their right to choose candidates.

According to Peter Schorsch of Florida Politics, Polk County Elections Supervisor Lori Edwards estimated that “[o]n average, primary elections in 10 of 67 counties will be closed because of write-ins.” In 2018, five state legislative primary elections were closed down and voters locked out of the process by similar means.

This means that in many state elections only Democrats (or only Republicans) are determining who will hold office. Talk about legal voter suppression.

What are the political effects of races like these? Closed primaries bring out the extremes in party voting. Typically, primary voters are the most loyal, but also the most ideological voters. If you have an election with only Democrats — or only Republicans — determining the outcome, we’re likely to get the most radical candidates from either. Given that they would run without opposition, that means we’re routing the craziest of the crazy ideologues straight into office.

Of course, this manipulation is not due to legit candidates earnestly seeking office. It’s a scam perpetrated by campaign “operatives.” It’s not choosing, it's channeling. It’s a rotten legalism, a technicality that voids the intent of the law.

We’re in the aftermath of the messiest election in swing-state Florida’s history. It's probably time for more than a Band-aid. We’re so diverse, politically, and so fractious, that eliminating the write-in is not on. Anyone who wants to run should be able to run, that’s American.

Also, almost a third of Florida voters are NPA (no party affiliation) and can’t vote in anyone’s primaries. So, how to keep the write-in, and open up voter choice, and this primary system, to everyone?

Two ballot initiatives are making their way through the system right now, backed by GOP donor Mike Fernandez.

Both do the same thing. One is for Florida statewide and legislative elections, the other for federal legislative elections. All candidates would appear on the same ballot, and any registered voter could vote. The two top vote-getters would then move on to the general election — regardless of party affiliation. Write-ins presumably allowed.

Unlike the current system, this one would tend to push candidates to the center, rather than the extremes, because they would have to compete in rational ways that do not lend themselves easily to partisan twitching.

The political parties will hate this.

But perhaps that’s another good reason to give it our full support.

R. Bruce Anderson (randerson2@flsouthern.edu) is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

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